Porsche Supercup Hungary: Rast Baffles Rest

It’s the 2012 Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend, and Porsche Supercup is right alongside. There are two rounds of the Supercup being held here: one extra to replace the Barcelona round, where the cars were deemed unsafe to race.

Safety concerns emerged on the Barcelona start grid, where some wheels were found to have been damaged in tyre mounting. Hard to imagine just how this can have happened, but a bit late to wonder out loud now. Porsche cancelled the round on the grid, and the Budapest double-header is being held to make up.

René Rast (below) has snatched pole for both races: one this afternoon after qualifying and the other tomorrow, before the GP. Thankfully, there is no repeat of Monaco where Supercup was not shown live on TV. British Eurosport 2 are showing the races back to back tomorrow (race 2 live) from 10:15hrs.

Eurosport’s coverage is not the greatest, but any coverage is better than none. This is a tight and twisty track that gets incredibly hot and collects plenty of dust off line: it’s a great place to watch 911s race.

Rast’s competitors were left stunned by his qualifying pace. “I have no idea how René does it,” said Sean Edwards, title challenger and 5th and 2nd in qualifying. “I was at the limit during my fastest lap, and still I’m fourth-tenths of a second off him. I’ve got nothing to lose now in the race. I’m going to go full attack right from the first corner.”

Norbert Siedler was similarly bewildered. “Don’t ask me how René achieves such times. Perhaps we can make up for it in the races but that’ll be very tricky.”

The races are shaping up mega: Estre, Thiim and Ammermuller in the top four for race 1 should make for a banzai half-hour of Porsche to start, and the 45-minute race on Sunday (shown live) with Edwards in hot pursuit could be a classic: one slip off the start grid and Rene will have to fight back past. Count on seeing some jaw-dropping racing should that occur.

Rast is pure genius behind the wheel and a joy to watch in full flow. If you’re not following the fastest one-make championship in the world, I think you’re missing out.